When her high school boyfriend suddenly shows up at her doorstep half a world away after almost two decades, Amy is a little overwhelmed…… he has no idea what he’s been missing.

I enjoyed this book but I found Olivia’s chapters to be consistently slow. I would have preferred to see the “then” chapters told from Chris’ perspective instead, or honestly even from Amy’s mom’s perspective. I also found the end to be a little unlikely and too perfectly convenient.

Overall I enjoyed it, it was a cute story, just not one of my favorite second chance romances.

Worlds Apart is Jane Crittenden's debut novel, I knew just by looking at the cover I needed to read this book, it's just so pretty. This novel is a dual POV and a dual timeline, but I appreciate how the author put "now" and "then" at the beginning of each chapter, so I would know when the timeline would change, it wasn't confusing at all. Now, I expected this book to mentally destroy me, did it? A little bit. I expected to sob, did I? No, not at all. Was my heart broken? Just a little bit. This book didn't disappoint in any way. But I went in with too high expectations. All of the characters were unique in their own ways, no one was perfect, I absolutely love when an author writes characters that way because each character is going to have their faults and mistakes, just like in the real world outside of books. Not everything is going to be sprinkles and rainbows. At first, it took me a little bit to get into the story, it started off a bit slow, but then it started picking up pace, and eventually I couldn't put the book down. I can't recommend this book enough, so please do yourself a favor and grab your copy immediately. I didn't exactly <b>love love love</b> this book, but I enjoyed most of it. Don't let this review stop you from reading Worlds Apart, you may love it more than I did, these are just my opinions.

THANK YOU TO NETGALLEY AND AMAZON PUBLISHING UK FOR AN ARC OF THIS BOOK IN EXCHANGE FOR AN HONEST REVIEW!!!!!!

<b>Can first love survive eighteen years, eleven thousand miles and a lifetime of misunderstandings</b>?

Eighteen years ago, Amy fled England, pregnant and heartbroken, to start over in New Zealand with her parents. In high school, Amy met Olivia and Chris. Olivia was new to the school, and Amy was her first real friend, or so Amy thought. Amy wanted to go to culinary school, but her mom thought it was a waste of time, so Amy would always bake at home and bring tasty treats for her friends, expecting them to guess her secret ingredient. Chris and Amy were friends way before Olivia arrived. Chris would always smile at Amy. Later on, Olivia would always have thoughts of Chris smiling at her like the way he smiled at Amy. Amy became pregnant with Chris's baby, but she never told him she was pregnant. Amy and her parents were about to move to New Zealand, so Amy wrote Chris a letter explaining everything, and Amy's dad was supposed to deliver that letter to Chris man to man, but he saw something that would destroy Amy, OLIVIA AND CHRIS WERE KISSING UNDER A TREE, while Amy was carrying Chris's baby. Amy's mom thought she was so stupid for getting pregnant at such a young age.

Fast forward to now, Chris, the love Amy left behind, has just walked into Amy's beloved cafe down by the beach in New Zealand, and has now thrown her life into turmoil. Amy never saw Chris kissing Olivia, she just believed what she was told. Chris is on an architecturing job in New Zealand, a place where Amy calls home and has raised their child alone. As far as Amy is concerned, Chris chose to ignore the child she was carrying when they last met. Amy brought up their child alone, and created a happy home for the both of them on the other side of the world away from Chris and Olivia. How could Christ betray Amy like that? But how could Olivia do that to her best friend as well? She knew Amy and Chris had feelings for each other. With Chris suddenly back in her life, Amy can no longer ignore the past and begins to wonder what really happened all those years ago. Amy and Chris's daughter, Bea, is away on a trip, and now is the time for Amy to come clean with Chris, but what does Amy learn? CHRIS HAS ANOTHER CHILD WITH OLIVIA!!!!!! The <b>NERVE</b> Chris and Olivia had just wanted to make me scream. But I couldn't help but cheer on Amy, she was so strong for going through with her pregnancy despite her mom's smartass remarks.

There was a lot to like here. I liked the alternating povs, the dual timelines, the mysteries over what happened and how we got to this point in the present day. The ending was solid too, something I'm always dubious about with novels like this. However, I couldn't get past the main plot point - Amy holding back from telling Chris the truth for the majority of novel. It just became beyond frustrating and needless, the obviousness over the situation made me increasingly loath to finish the book. Nice idea but problems with the execution.

The story centers around Amy, who moved from the UK to New Zealand with her parents nearly twenty years ago while she was still pregnant with her daughter. She tried to contact her then-boyfriend Chris, but he never responded to her letter. Amy has since moved on and now runs a successful beachside café in Auckland. Then out of nowhere, Chris shows up at her doorstep, leaving Amy understandably confused and upset. She wants nothing to do with him, but her best friend Shannon insists that she should at least hear him out, mainly for the sake of their daughter Bea. As Amy spends more time with Chris, she starts to realize that he might not have received her letter after all. It also turns out that her so-called best friend Olivia played a much bigger role in all of this than Amy had ever imagined.

I enjoyed the writing style - it was easy to read and had a good flow. I liked how the story was divided into “now” and “then” sections, narrated by Amy and Olivia, gradually revealing the secrets surrounding Amy's life. The world-building is amazing, and now I want to move to New Zealand and open a small café by the beach. All the main characters are flawed, but this made them seem more authentic, and their personalities fit the story well. If the main characters were more mature, the whole misunderstanding could probably be resolved in just a few chapters, so their personalities kind of make sense.

However, the main focus on the misunderstanding between Amy and Chris slowed down the overall progression of the story. It was only towards the end that Amy finally confessed, leaving many unanswered questions. I wanted to learn more about Amy's business, as her passion for baking and her café play important roles in both the “now” and “then” sections of the story. I also wanted to know more about Bea, as she is at the heart of this misunderstanding. I think exploring these aspects would have created a more balanced storyline. It would also be nice to see Chris gradually becoming a part of Amy and Bea’s lives. I appreciate happy endings, but this one felt somewhat unrealistic. The misunderstanding between Amy and Chris overshadowed the entire plot, and as a result, the ending felt rushed and left important aspects of the story unexplored.

Thank you, NetGalley, the publisher Lake Union Publishing, and author Jane Crittenden for the ARC copy in exchange for an honest review!

I loved this book. There’s not too much o can say without giving some spoilers away; but Olivia joins a nee school as a teenager, and becomes friend with Amy. Amy is clearly in love with Chris, but Olivia also really likes him. Chris’ best friend Paul is clearly in love with Olivia. This books goes chapter by chapter into Amy and Olivia’s loves, both ‘then’ and ‘now’ - which is when Amy is a single parent to an 18 year old, Bea. Bea doesn’t know who he dad is. Just when you think you’ve guessed the plot; there’s another few twists. I really enjoyed this book.

Loved the premise of love lost-but rekindled all those years later! Obviously immense hurt and heartache were felt by all considered, especially as she goes to raise their daughter alone, but I am a sucker for 2nd chance romance I am coming to understand!

“Worlds Apart” is a debut novel by Jane Crittenden. I believe this book is billed as a contemporary romance. This book is told in “then” (from a 17 year old girl, Olivia’s point of view) and “now” from Amy (the main character’s point of view). The “then” bits were interesting at first, but I ended up skimming them due to not really caring about, well, high-school teenage drama. In the “now” I couldn’t believe that it took the entire bloody book for Amy to tell the father of her child that, well, he was the father of her child. I really dislike the miscommunication trope - and “Clueless Chris” obviously didn’t know early on in the book why Amy was upset with him, but Amy kept thinking “I gave the letter to my Dad, what gives Chris?” opposed to actually saying the words and/or asking him about the letter (and why a physical letter - why didn’t Amy email Chris?). Also, if this was 17 years ago, weren’t cell phones a thing? Wasn’t texting a thing? I mean, I bought my first cell phone 13 years ago - but I was late to the party. The descriptions of New Zealand were wonderful. Some grammatical errors (unfortunately my big peeve I/me and subject/object non-agreement), but Ms. Crittenden can write well, though I ended up skimming a lot because after the first 25% of the book, I realized I just didn’t like them and their lack of communication skills.

Honestly I struggled with this book, Olivia came out of nowhere so two chapters in and I’m already confused. Then the flitting from past to present tense , the overly bitchy characters who just aren’t likeable at all. Such a slow burning read , it wasn’t for me. The idea was great but unfortunately the execution just didn’t excite me. The only reason I finished is because I can’t leave a book unfinished , a personal problem! I know many will love this book but for me it missed the mark massively.

Really enjoyed this book! The pace was good and easy to read. The only issue I had with it was it felt as thought the book was building towards the end point and yet when we got there it was brushed over very quickly and we never got to see how it actually ended. I wanted to hear the full reaction and ending after reading their whole story rather than just make up in my head what happened.

A really easy book to connect to as all of the characters have major flaws which makes them feel more human. A good storyline too. Which you feel that you can become part of very easily. Very well written too.

This was a beautiful debut. Amy had moved on from life in England, having left with her parents to move to New Zealand. Being pregnant and not hearing back from her boyfriend and father of her baby, Chris, made for a heartbreaking journey to getting her life together. Chris turning up eighteen years later rocked her world.

There were a lot of secrets that were brought to light. There was also the question of what if. In the midst of all that, they overcame.

The characters were all flawed, having their own struggles and messes to work through. They were starting out life, about to head to university, so they had a lot going on. Still, they eventually figured it all out, even if took them almost two decades to finally reconcile their differences. It wasn't without heartache and heartbreaks, but it all came together in the end.

Thank you to Netgalley and Publisher for the ARC.

This book is basically about women ruining other women’s lives. This book is like mean girls, only if Regina, George and Cady Heron both got pregnant.
This book is confusing from the beginning, the description about the book does not even mention Olivia, but she is a point of view character. The book goes back-and-forth between the past, and the present, the pas being in Olivia’s point of view and the present being in Amy’s point of view.
Then Amy’s mom is this really stereotypically mean and judgmental mom who calls her a slut and tells her that her boyfriend will leave her and emotionally traumatizes and manipulates her into moving across the world while she’s pregnant and hormonal without giving her a chance to speak to the baby’s father.
It totally makes sense that Amy doesn’t even come clean about the fact that she has a baby with Chris when he randomly shows up at her café one day after however, many years, I don’t even remember because this book doesn’t even deserve a second thought. The writing is low level, the women are superficial, and just the kind of women that you would never wanna spend any time with. I don’t think that this book can pass the Bechdel test, the women in this book are always thinking about, obsessing over, and talking about men.
I could honestly barely finish this book. The one redeeming thing about it, is that it’s a book and it’s finished, which is something I have yet to do. Reading books like this show me that I should be writing, and I am a better writer than people who are published, so that’s why this book gets the one star that I am obligated to give it.

Crittenden has crafted a novel focused on the ways that perceptions and assumptions, especially those made by our younger or less enlightened selves, can change the course of lives. I enjoyed the complex web that was woven between the cast of main characters, as well as some of the periphery characters. While I'm not a huge fan of the miscommunication trope (which is why this book did not fully click for me in the end), I did appreciate that this device allows for the exploration of how many of us make mistakes in life that are rooted in doing what we think is best. The shame and guilt associated with these mistakes keep us from moving forward and addressing them.

While the themes of the novel were compelling and the writing was wonderful (especially the way the scenery was immersive), there was something about the story that did not resonate with me. As I said above, I'm not a big fan of miscommunication in novels. Though it was handled well in this book, I do think it led to some repetitive passages, especially in Amy's sections. I also think an important through line of the story is motherhood and the relationship between daughters and their mothers, which I can only relate to one half of. This book might resonate more with those who have daughters of their own.

Such a cute read! I loved how the scenery and café were described in beautiful New Zealand. I enjoyed Amy's story and the revelations from her past colliding with her present. I was totally rooting for her from the beginning!
Some of the reasons I did not rate it higher was that personally, I was significantly less interested in Olivia's point of view but it did add a certain amount of mystery and curiosity to how she was going to tie in later. I felt like there was a lot going on and the story lacked consistency which ultimately deterred me from feeling fully enraptured by the story.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Worlds Apart is an engaging story, of what could have been. The miscommunication between the two main characters felt overdone at times.

Charming and touching romance! Part coming-of-age, part romance, part mothers-and-daughters, and part a story of friendship, this is a delightful read. It explores the messiness people can make of their lives but optimism shines through in the end. I thoroughly enjoyed this book from beginning to end- the pacing is spot-on and the characters messy and real!

It's a bit of a slow paced book, which I don't normally mind, but I found the writing difficult to keep my attention particularly through the first half. The author is more of a tell instead of show writer, often with long paragraphs of inner monologues during the chapters written in first person from the main character. It's also a tad predictable in terms of plot, but I think it's overall executed well.

What happens if an old flame enters your life again? What would you do? This book is filled with ups and downs, hope and drama. You will have to read on to see what happens. I like the writing and wonderful storyline.

Thanks NetGalley for allowing me to receive and review this book.

I liked the book quite well, liked the 2 points of views and two timelines - the author did it well. It‘s about a love „then“ when it not ended well, and a new meeting „now“ when the couple might have a second chance.
The book is worth a read - you don‘t need know more in order to enjoy!
A promising debut!

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the ebook!!!

Summary:

Amy owns a successful cafe in NZ having moved when she was 18 years old and pregnant.

Suddenly her past catches up with her as two of her best friends from England find her. Old secrets and new revelations emerge and Amy struggles to navigate what this means for her past relationships and her current ones.

Review:

This was a good romantic suspense story. The pacing is good and it’s an easy read.

The miscommunication trope plays heavily here which I found frustrating to read. I just wanted the characters to tell each other the truth and see the consequences play out. But the reveal to the characters came near the end and as a reader you didn’t get to see much of what happened next. Just a skip to happy ending.

I liked the element of family relationships and healing in here.

A good read but frustrating at times